Oh, perfect!

"Oh, please!  F-ck off!", I laughed at the pool this morning.  I was joking with a young man I swim and chat with most mornings.  Now you have to realize that I always use this expression in a jocular, rather than offensive, manner and no one ever takes offence because I can accurately judge who to say it to and when.

What prompted my greeting was the continuing agitation between the aquafit-ers and the lane swimmers.  "I am sick of the lanes always being closed to accommodate the aquafit class, while the rest of us are jammed into two," I had said to him a while ago when he was forced to join our now-too-crowded lane.  It irritates me so much that I would never take an aquafit class, I added.  He laughed and that's what started our regular little chats. 

So, when he laughingly said this morning, "Aren't you going to join the aquafit class?" as he slipped under the lane line, I delivered my greeting.  I should add that at the time, I had been laughing with another guy I swim with who was dropping the "f" bomb left, right and centre about the poor marshalling he had experienced at the triathlon he had done over the weekend.  "I was even hit by a truck at an intersection!" he said.  "The only good thing about it was I got to give a cop sh-t!"  By this point we were all laughing. 

Having not formally introduced myself to the other young man and since we chat so often I said, "I'm Nancy."  He politely offered his hand and introduced himself.  "What do you do," I added.  "I'm a neurosurgeon at Foothills."  That's when I said, "Oh, perfect!  I just told a neurosurgeon to F-ck off," I laughed.  "Hopefully, I never have to meet you in your operating room!"  But he simply laughed and said he thought it was very funny.

This neurosurgeon had been trained in Venezuela, hence his manners and politeness.  He is in Calgary because his wife has a big job in oil and gas.  He told me about what it took to get certified in Alberta and all I can say is, good for him.  He is not 12, as I assumed, but 41 and the second top neurosurgeon at Foothills.  You never know who you will meet at the Crowfoot Y pool!

I am sure you get the impression that I don't swim, just chat, but we all do.  Very hard.  In fact, I have upped my laps to get ready for the Lake Windermere 2-K swim I am doing in August.  Did it last year and am determined to do better than the lollygagging time I did last year.

This time I'm going to be serious.